Remember the moment you heard about the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus? How you heard of it and where you were? Your reaction? The reactions of your friends and those around you?
Editor, This is in response to Jason Darensburg's letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo. I thought it was bad enough on the day of the shooting that the news brought on Jack Thompson as a credible expert on school shootings, allowing him to use the tragedy as a soapbox to promote his theory that video games serve as a training ground for future and past school shooters.
Editor, The horrible news about the Virginia Tech massacre has got me thinking. My heart goes out to all the victims of this pointless crime, although I can't help but think this kind of senseless, brutal act is endemic of the senseless, brutal society we have created for ourselves in the U.
Editor, I'm sure Virginia Tech has a no-weapons policy, similar to UNM and every other campus in the U.S. Didn't this gunman know he couldn't have a firearm on campus? Didn't he read his student handbook? Obviously, he didn't. The point I am trying to address is that policies, signs, student handbooks and contracts don't prevent people from coming on campus with a gun - or anywhere, for that matter.
Editor, It is clear to everyone but stubborn Bush supporters living in a state of total denial that the current White House occupants would not survive the Nuremberg trials. Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz agrees. He said that Bush should be tried for war crimes.
Editor, I would like to compliment Brian Fejer on what I found to be a rather lengthy rant Monday. He calls for the removal of effectively everyone in Congress, the president and the vice president. He proposes that we get rid of Congress. I don't know what world Fejer thinks he lives in.
Editor, I was involved in the Geek Chic Auction in the SUB as an auctionee this past Friday, hosted by the Society of Women Engineers. I believe in the worthy vision of this society, which is to increase and retain female enrollment in the technical fields of engineering and computer science.
by Joseph J. Garc°a Daily Lobo columnist The Student Fee Review Board rules state, "The officials making appointments to the SFRB should use their best efforts to ensure that the SFRB's overall membership reflects the diverse makeup of the University." As GPSA president, I appointed Michelle Touson and Emira Ibrahimpasic as the graduate student representatives.
Editor, Though I am not a resident of New Mexico, I am a citizen of the U.S., part of the nationwide constituency of the future president. I am also part of the immense population of bereaved mothers who are shocked, offended and appalled by Gov. Bill Richardson's veto of bill SB17 and his callous and unthinking response in his accompanying veto message.
Editor, After reading Scott Darnell's rhetorical column about fear and hate of Iran on Thursday, I have to wonder if he also believes that we won the Vietnam War and that O.J. Simpson was innocent. There is no question that we must take a strong stance against the development of nuclear weapons by Iran, but how we go about it requires new thinking.
Editor, According to the recently released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming is "unequivocal," and the most likely culprits are people. It is time to open a second front in the battle against global warming by stressing the need for sustainable population growth.
Editor, It's nice to hear that CBS and MSNBC took the appropriate action by firing Don Imus for his recent on-air racist remarks. But I don't feel they went far enough, as the current mavericks of the talk-show radio networks continue to fill the airwaves with hateful and divisive rhetoric and stereotypes.
Editor, A Bush administration official told CNN recently that White House aides, with President Bush's blessing, are actively trying to hire a new point person to help pilot the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There's an urgency to get this done," the official said, referring to the administration's new security plan for Iraq.
Editor, Let me get this straight. Some say that Americans who want to bring U.S. troops home from the failure in Iraq hurt the morale of these troops, but that extending their tours to 15 months would not hurt their morale. According to President Bush, there isn't a civil war in Iraq, just pure evil.
by Peggy Spencer Daily Lobo columnist Dear Dr. Peg, My girlfriend told me I have stinky feet. She thinks it might be a fungus thing and wants me to get it taken care of. I don't notice it, but she said that her socks even stunk when she washed them with mine.
Editor, The treatment of radio personality Don Imus stinks. It's a typical one-way street. Let's recap - African-Americans can perform rap songs on the air and in live performances referencing women as "hos" or "bitches," calling each other the n-word and talking about killing cops.
Editor, While attending a lab last week, I realized where this University's priorities are focused. The lab instructor said that each student was to reuse a single pair of latex gloves for dissections. When asked why the class was instructed to reuse our gloves, the instructor said that the department cannot afford to allow students to constantly change dirty gloves.
Editor, The unanimous approval by the Board of Regents to increase tuition is absurd. Maybe if its reasons were a bit better, it wouldn't be. First of all, how does raising tuition help in hiring minority faculty? Does it cost more to hire minorities? I don't see how refraining from raising our tuition keeps the University from hiring minorities.
Editor, I salute the UNM Humanist Society for holding a blood drive Tuesday. Supporting efforts such as donating blood falls loosely into what, as a Catholic, I would call a corporal act of mercy. While donating blood is not specifically enumerated, activities like visiting the sick and feeding the poor are expected to be performed by Catholics as part of our faith.
Last week, Iran ended its 13-day hostage-taking of British sailors when it finally agreed to send them back to Britain. During the ordeal, Iranian leaders acted as all other Islamic fundamentalists we've seen since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, parading their hostages in the global media, creating a facade that the hostages were not being harmed and making demands on the Western world. It's a picture we've become far too comfortable seeing.
Solutions by The State News
